wclccfandomcom-20200215-history
William
William the Conqueror was origannally the Duke of Normandy , but after Edward the Confessor promised him the English throne he invaded England, defeated king Harold in battle, and gained the title William the conqueror. He was a brilliant General who commanded his army to great effect. Early life William the Conqueror was born in 1028 with the title William the Bastard because of the illigitimacy of his birth. Because of this, many countrymen made attempts on his life because they belived that the Norman throne was rightfully theirs. After many failed assasination attempts, William obtained the title Duke of Normandy at age 7, in 1035. William was knited at age 15 by King Henry of france. By age 19 he had leared how to deal with rebellion and had pretty much matured. English invasion Once Harold has crowned himself king, he was stupid enough to send a message to france. I mean, seriously?! When William got the message, he was furious(as Harold should have predicted). William sided with the Pope, who supported him in his war, and proptly gathered an invasion force of 7000 men and 2000 horses, and loaded them onto 700 boats. He had to wait for the weather to allow him to sail across the Channel, and he was lucky he did: When he arrived, he found that while he was waiting, the English army was busy destroying the Vikings - and destroying their army as well. William had origannally commanded his archers to be first off the boats, when they jumped off they found no army there to greet them (and send them running back off to normandy with their tails between their legs. No, without Harold there to take care of him, William built a castle, in case Harold was planning to surprise him, and happily marched over to Battle. Battle of Hastings Once at Battle, the Norman and English armys faced each other, with the English sitting between the Norman army and London. William ordered his archers to fire upon the English sheild wall , but true to it's reputation as a formidable defence, the shield wall held. Over the next few hours, William ordered many attacks upon the English army and despite sustaining severe damage, the English shield wall held. William ordered a retreat. And suddenly William saw something crucial to his success. Many of the English soldiers broke ranks and followed the retreating Normans. Without cover, these soldiers were butchered. So William staged more fake retreats and more and more English soldiers Broke ranks, and died unheroic deaths. It was getting close to nightfall when William tried one more desparate tactic. He ordered his soldiers to fire up into the air, in a porabolic arc, as to rain down onto the English. It worked. Not only were many English killed by an unexpected death from the sky, but King Harold himself was shot in the eye. As moral plumetted in English ranks, William ordered one final attack. His soldiers finnally broke through the English shield wall , and killed King Harold. Reign Because this is a Wikia on the Battle of Hastings and not on King William, there is no furthur infomation here. If you want more infomation, please visit Wikipedia's page on King William the Conqueror .